At Build 2026, Microsoft unveiled WSL containers to create, run, and manage Linux containers on Wind

At Build 2026, Microsoft unveiled WSL containers to create, run, and manage Linux containers on Windows without third-party tools. Available in the latest WSL preview, they target developers and organizations for cloud-native apps, AI, and deployment, offering security, manageability, and Windows integration.

New CLI for containers
The wslc.exe command-line tool enables end-to-end container work (run, debug, test) using a familiar format. An alias container.exe points to wslc.exe.

Microsoft's implementation supports Linux desktops in containers and GPU access for CUDA workloads.

Linux Desktop Command:

wslc run -d --name=webtop -e PUID=1000 -e PGID=1000 -e TZ=Etc/UTC -p 3000:3000 -p 3001:3001 lscr.io/linuxserver/webtop:ubuntu-kde

CUDA Example:

wslc run --rm --gpus all pytorch/pytorch:2.5.1-cuda12.4-cudnn9-runtime python -c "import torch; print(torch.cuda.is_available()); print(torch.cuda.get_device_name(0))"

API Support for Windows Apps
A new NuGet package allows Windows applications to use Linux containers in logic. Available via nuget.org and the WSL releases page, it supports C, C++, and C#.

The API helps reuse Linux-specific code, run cloud applications locally, and limit Linux process access to host resources. It integrates with MSBuild and CMake to fold container build/deploy steps into the application build process.

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WSL containers are available in the latest pre-release. Install via wsl --update --pre-release or download from GitHub. General availability is expected in fall 2026.